Movie Review

Last Vegas

Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro and Kevin Kline on screen together for the first time.

3 of 5

De Niro and Freeman stood out from the pack.

4 of 5

There was something unlikeable about Kevin Kline's character.

5 of 5

Mary Steenburgen's character was a strange addition to the film.

Last Vegas sounds good on paper but sadly it does not live up to the expectations that come with a film starring heavyweights Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Michael Douglas.

The film follows Billy (Douglas), Paddy (De Niro), Archie (Freeman) and Sam (Kline); childhood friends on a weekend away in Las Vegas to celebrate Billy's bachelor party before he marries a much younger woman.

A group of guys go to Vegas, it would be very easy to draw comparisons to The Hangover here but the setting really is the only similarity. Where The Hangover is flat out funny with big belly laughs and a solid amount of ridiculous twists, Last Vegas is a strange balance of a few laughs here and there with a failed attempt at that kind of Bucket List feel good factor.

While there are a few touching moments between Archie and his son and as Paddy reflects about his late wife, for me Last Vegas fell into a strange middle ground: not touching enough to make me really invest in the characters, and not funny enough to keep me entertained throughout. At 105 minutes there just isn't enough going on to stay the course and it seemed as though the same jokes were being recycled time and time again.

De Niro and Freeman stood out from the pack, as one would expect from those two screen legends, and the film could've done with some more interaction between the pair. More could have been done with Douglas' character and there was something quite unlikeable about Kline in the film that I can't put my finger on.

For me however, Mary Steenburgen's character was an odd addition to the project; her singing scenes went on for that bit too long, and throwing a half-hearted love story into the mix just seemed clichéd and unnecessary.

Had the film focused more on the banter and fun that the guys share it could have been as funny as the trailers make it out to be, but unfortunately it missed the mark and failed to impress.